Posted: Sat 25 Sep 2010, 18:15 Post subject:
When can we expect USB3 support in Puppy?

I have just discovered that dd is a much better solution for archiving my computer files than Acronis, Ghost, or anything else I've tried. However, I'd really love to take advantage of the speed boost through my new USB3 pci express card.

Has anyone successfully set up USB3 so it works with Puppy? Are there any obscure tricks I should be aware of?

Hi Tempestuous. Thanks! That worked for me with the new Puppy 5.1.x. It won't work with kernels before 2.6.31, will it? I suppose I'll have to spend some time and upgrade my tricked out version of Puppy to the newest model.

Intrerestingly enough, upon running a few tests today, I found that most of the speed gains come from how the tool works, rather than the speed of the cable, itself. Partclone and Ntfsclone both really excelled over dd, when it came to making partition images. DD still seems to reign when it comes to cloning a partition in real time.

If you want to compare USB 3.0 performance to USB 2.0, transfer a large file (say, a Puppy ISO file) to an external USB hard drive using one interface then the other. You should see a clear difference in the transfer times.
Obviously this test is less conclusive when transferring to NAND flash drives, for example, because the lower write-speed of flash drives will be the limiting factor, not the transfer speed.

Does one need the USB 3.0 hardware to use the driver?
Also, I have a Toshiba laptop with an external sata port.
Does this driver work with it or is one available or needed?
I did download the USB 3.0 driver Pet, but I assume that without internal hardware to support it, it will not work.

Yes. Of course.
I knew when I contributed this driver there would be frivolous attempts to use it. Sigh.

8-bit wrote:

Also, I have a Toshiba laptop with an external sata port.
Does this driver work with it or is one available or needed?

This driver is for USB 3.0 interfaces. Nothing to do with SATA.
There has been full SATA support in the Puppy kernel for quite a long time.
Your external SATA port will simply be an extra connection to the same SATA controller for your internal SATA connection. If the internal SATA device works, then there's a 99% chance that an external SATA device will work.

Yes... 8-bit, special USB3 hardware is required. They actually just started making it. It was even still difficult, last time I checked to find a motherboard with built-in USB3 hardware. There's only so much you can do to improve the speed of your computer by cleaning up the software, and whatnot. The biggest gains are by adding hardware. If you haven't yet spent the time to learn how to build a computer from scratch, it's well worth it. It's a rite of passage for computer hobbyists like us.

tempestuous wrote:

8-bit wrote:

Does one need the USB 3.0 hardware to use the driver?

Yes. Of course.
I knew when I contributed this driver there would be frivolous attempts to use it. Sigh.

Not everyone can be L33t. Our newbs will always be with us. They are, in fact, our most valuable resource. Patience is wise._________________________

I already figured that USB 3 hardware would be required.
I just brought it up acting as a newbe to save others from downloading a driver that they would have no use for.
Also, I have built a few computers from scratch.
As a matter of fact, I took two compaq laptops that were not the same model and combined parts from both to make one working laptop.

I spent quite a bit of money in the early days with hardware that now is obsolete.
I still have a few of the first ones around with 420 meg hard drives, 8 megs of ram, and Soundblaster sound cards.

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